title: High cytoplasmic expression of the orphan nuclear receptor NR4A2 predicts poor survival in nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study aimed at investigating whether the orphan nuclear receptor NR4A2 is significantly associated with clinicopathologic features and overall survival of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).
  
  
  METHODS
  Immunohistochemistry was performed to determine NR4A2 protein expression in 84 NPC tissues and 20 non-cancerous nasopharyngeal (NP) tissues. The prognostic significance of NR4A2 protein expression was evaluated using Cox proportional hazards regression models and Kaplan-Meier survival analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We did not find a significant association between total NR4A2 expression and clinicopathological variables in 84 patients with NPC. However, we observed that high cytoplasmic expression of NR4A2 was significantly associated with tumor size (T classification) (P = 0.006), lymph node metastasis (N classification) (P = 0.002) and clinical stage (P = 0.017). Patients with higher cytoplasmic NR4A2 expression had a significantly lower survival rate than those with lower cytoplasmic NR4A2 expression (P = 0.004). Multivariate Cox regression analysis analysis suggested that the level of cytoplasmic NR4A2 expression was an independent prognostic indicator for overall survival of patients with NPC (P = 0.033).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  High cytoplasmic expression of NR4A2 is a potential unfavorable prognostic factor for patients with NPC.
authors.affiliation: Sino-American Cancer Research Institute, Key Laboratory for Medical Molecular Diagnostics of Guangdong Province, Guangdong Medical College, Dongguan, China.
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Bin-Bin
authors.initials: BB
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Zhi-Wei
authors.initials: ZW
authors.lastname: He
mesh_terms: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000096:biosynthesis; D002277:Carcinoma; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D000077274:Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology*; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D057126:Nuclear Receptor Subfamily 4, Group A, Member 2 / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D011379:Prognosis
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C539882:NR4A2 protein, human; D057126:Nuclear Receptor Subfamily 4, Group A, Member 2